I met Will Carruthers a little while ago and he basically spelled out that the 2 men are insufferable egomaniacs with a god complex who could barely stand to be in the same room as each other by the end.

Their debut was an awesome record. Four 15 minute multipart tracks, great pop, great guitars. Splendid.

Pure Phase built on that with more drone, more pop, more diversity and gospel / strings that added to the tunes rather than took away.

Ladies and Gentlemen had some good bits (Cop Shoot Cop, I Think I'm In Love) but was over sentimal gloop in places. To be honest, if Ego Ashcroft had nicked my girlfriend, I'd be depressed (although at least he was pre-Urban Hymns at that time so not entirely disappeared up his own anus).

...that they recorded in a couple of weeks having fucked about for years recording the distinctly underhwleming Let It Come Down. It's a refreshing change from the gospel stuff that he seems to favour these days.

It took me ages to really get Let It Come Down, the kind of over-the-top layering of that new organic sound came over as a bit leaden, especially in comparison to the effortless production on Ladies And Gentlemen, but gradually it got stronger and stronger until...BLAM! The songwriting's top dollar all the way through.

The two live albums and the first Complete Works are essential too, needless to say.

I'd put Amazing Grace over A&E. I think Death Take Your Fiddle is the worst thing they've ever done. I mean...a Spiritualized song that actually makes my heart sink when it comes on. Sad days man, sad days.

and Lazer Guided Melodies was one of my favourite records at the time, but it just sadly feels like they've been on a slow but steady decline for a long time. Listening to LGM the other night just confirmed it. Great record.